Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) Holdings Lowered by Marco Investment Management LLC

Marco Investment Management LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Amgen Inc. (NASDAQ:AMGN) by 6.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 36,109 shares of the medical research company’s stock after selling 2,310 shares during the period. Marco Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Amgen were worth $10,400,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 49,035,981 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $13,178,910,000 after purchasing an additional 165,636 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 6,977,625 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,875,306,000 after purchasing an additional 255,463 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 5,437,182 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,461,297,000 after purchasing an additional 61,528 shares in the last quarter. Royal Bank of Canada raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 11.4% in the 3rd quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 5,079,677 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $1,365,213,000 after purchasing an additional 518,689 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Amgen by 15.9% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,356,359 shares of the medical research company’s stock worth $902,055,000 after purchasing an additional 459,340 shares in the last quarter. 76.50% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Amgen Stock Up 0.2 %

AMGN traded up $0.60 on Friday, reaching $269.98. 2,436,959 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,035,139. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14, a current ratio of 1.65 and a quick ratio of 1.13. The company has a market cap of $144.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.62, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.58. Amgen Inc. has a 52-week low of $211.71 and a 52-week high of $329.72. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $275.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.51.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 6th. The medical research company reported $4.71 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.66 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $8.20 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.13 billion. Amgen had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 154.27%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $4.09 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Amgen Inc. will post 19.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Amgen Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 7th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be given a $2.25 dividend. This represents a $9.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. Amgen’s dividend payout ratio is 72.06%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on AMGN shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $329.00 target price on shares of Amgen in a research report on Wednesday, April 3rd. Leerink Partnrs downgraded shares of Amgen from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Amgen in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Amgen from $281.00 to $278.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 7th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $296.95.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.